Giants pitcher George Kontos gets suspended, fined and demoted to Triple A — on his birthday

San Francisco Giants relief pitcher George Kontos won't look back fondly on the day he turned 28. On Wednesday, a day he might otherwise being blowing out candles on a cake, Kontos was suspended and fined by Major League Baseball, and also demoted to Triple-A by the Giants.

Kontos was ejected from Tuesday's game after hitting Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Earlier, he had thrown behind Starling Marte and earned a warning from home plate umpire Wally Bell. Kontos said his hitting McCutchen wasn't on purpose and wasn't retaliation for the Pirates pegging (and injuring) Giants second basemen Marco Scutaro.

That news for Kontos came a few hours after the Giants announced they were sending him back to Triple-A Fresno. His 2013 numbers — a 5.76 ERA with 19 runs allowed in 29.2 innings — are worse across the board than his 2012 stats. He's already given up more earned runs and home runs than he did all last season. His strikeouts are down, his walks are up and opponents are hitting .278 against him as opposed to .207 in 2012.